It's Just a Bit of Baldness
by The masked author1
Summary: Twilight thought she had the day all to herself, and she intended to spend it how she wanted, doing what she wanted, even if others might find it a strange behavior to engage in. But an unexpected visit from Rarity puts her plans at risk, and may lead to more serious complications occurring as a result. Rated T for equine nudity.
1. Chapter 1

Twilight gave a contented sigh, eyes shut as she smiled happily, letting the warm water of the shower beat down upon her head, neck, and back. Today was promising to be a very good day, and it had just barely started!

Rarity had come by early in the day to ask about borrowing Spike to assist in a gem gathering excursion, as there had been no feasible way of her easily gaining access to them on her own. Spike had been all too willing and ready to assist in the outing, and she didn't see any reason to deny him the opportunity. There was nothing pressing at the moment that she felt warranted keeping him at the castle, so why deny him the chance at the outing?

In addition to having the palace to herself, a rare occurrence had taken place on this day; Twilight's schedule actually had a sizable period of time during which she had nothing that needed to be done. There were no meetings scheduled, nowhere that needed to be visited, no royal duties that hand to be tended to -not that she had many of those to begin with- nothing that was in need of her attention, no reorganization that was begging to be done... for the next several hours, she quite literally had the palace all to herself, and nothing to do with her time. Nothing at all, except for whatever she wanted to do for herself. The hours were hers to spend however she pleased, and she planned to dive right into one of her newest books, and just enjoy the silence.

Or maybe she'd write Sunset Shimmer first, just to see if everything was going alright in the other world. It couldn't hurt to keep in touch.

Or maybe she'd just pop through the portal for a short bit, and see what was going on for herself. Ever since the last time she'd gone through to help defeat the Dazzlings, she would occasionally make short trips through the mirror when her schedule allowed, either to spend a little time with the others, or just learn more about the world around her.

The chance to just relax with her friends for a few hours, with no emergencies to get in the way... it certainly sounded very appealing right now. She could even be back by the time Spike got back, and nopony would be the wiser.

The other world... the parallel human world. Just thinking about it filled her with so many questions, and sensations. So many different -and yet similar- things to experience, not just with the society, and technological achievements, but also with her own basic physical form! She could spend so many hours of study mapping out the differences and similarities that she had in each world.

But the time she had available would be too short for her to do much more than just scratch the surface. Being without her magic was always a hindrance when it came to taking notes, and the shape of her mouth in human form made it very difficult to write in the traditional manner. There were her hands, but she had so little skill with them, any notes she took would be completely illegible, until she mastered the skill of manual penmanship.

Pens. Another reason to consider going through. She was fairly confident that, with enough physical specimens to examine, it would be entirely possible to reverse engineer their construction, and make them widespread in no more than one -or maybe two- year's time. Although the quill and inkwell industry would likely never forgive her if she did that.

Twilight sighed again, more out of defeat than contentment this time around. What she wanted to do, she really couldn't do, as there weren't enough hours in the day available to her.

Maybe she'd just settle for sending a message to Sunset Shimmer, ask a few questions in preparation for the next time she could visit, and then just lounge about with a good book, and do absolutely nothing.

And then, as she thought about that, an idea came to her, as to how she could go about spending her free time. It was an idea that actually made her grin as she contemplated it. It was something she hadn't had the opportunity to do for a good long time now, and now that she'd actually stopped to consider it as a possibility, it struck her as _very_ appealing.

"No better time than the present I guess," she said to herself, mentally committing to the decision to go ahead with her plans for the day.

She closed her eyes again and stuck her head directly under the shower, her horn glowing as she worked her magic on a particular spell to achieve what she wanted to do since the opportunity was hers for the taking.

Her skin tingled as the spell went to work. And soon she started feeling the water beating against her skin, rather than through her fur and feathers.

* * *

Rarity hummed to herself as she walked through Ponyville, quite content with the results of today's gem gathering excursion. She honestly didn't know _what_ she'd do if she couldn't count on Spike's assistance with the outings. He could easily tear through hard, tightly compacted dirt, root, and even rock with great ease, and effortlessly reduce what would've previous been a day's worth of hard work, to just a few scant hours of tussle and bustle.

Tussle and bustle. She really needed to work on her rhyming skills. Perhaps a visit to Zecora was warranted...

Back on the topic of Spike. He was such a diligent little worker; to the point he'd managed to wear himself right out, and was desperately in need of a nap by the time they got back to the boutique. She certainly couldn't deny him his rest, and had chosen to let him snooze away on her fainting couch. And while he slept, she made her way to Twilight's castle to drop off a basket of what she considered Spike's share of today's haul. They were small, irregularly shaped gems that had been uncovered, totally unusable for her own applications without extensive efforts at cutting them to a more desirable form.

That said, however, it didn't change the fact that they were still high quality gemstones; still succulent by dragon standards if she had to guess. Leaving them for Spike to discover when he returned home was the least she could do for the poor dear after all the hard work she'd put him through. Plus she trusted Twilight to ensure that he was given them in a responsible manner, so he didn't wind up making himself sick by gorging on them all at once.

Concluding both her hum, and her walk, Rarity stopped at the doors to Twilight's palace, and knocked at the door to announce her presence. Barging right in would just be utterly rude for her to do.

* * *

The feel of upholstery against bare skin wasn't something Twilight was unfamiliar with, just very inexperienced with. But it was that inexperience that had a certain appeal about it, as it was always a new sensation to encounter when she actually did it. Or when she had to adjust her position, and felt the fabric rubbing against her. Sometimes it got her giggling, and sometimes it had her needlessly repeating the same movement because it had proven to be a pleasurable sensation to encounter; it felt unbelievably good against her back when she would roll over, and proceed to furiously rub her back against the sofa to scratch an itch that had been bugging her.

Of course that was to say nothing of the feeling of her own skin rubbing against more of her own skin. That was something else entirely. It felt so smooth, and slick, and even ticklish! Even without her book, she was having a great deal of fun.

That wasn't to say that she was actually _without_ a book, however. She'd simply devoted time to something a little more physical than simply reading this whole time. And now that she'd done such, she was ready to just lay back, and enjoy the tome as it was meant to be.

And then there was a knock coming from the front door -the alert being brought to her by the door chime charms in place- interrupting her good mood.

Twilight sighed again, and gently laid the book down on the coffee table next to the sofa, before rolling off onto her hooves. She knew that she couldn't answer the door in her current state, but she was prepared for that. With a little bit of magical flexing, she was draped in an illusion spell, making her look like nothing was out of the ordinary as she made her way to the castle foyer. The only problem was that she needed to actively maintain the spell, and couldn't divert her magic for other uses. So long as she didn't need to do that, she would be fine.

"Yes? Who is it?" she asked as she made her way to the front door at hearing it being knocked on a second time.

"It's just me, darling."

That was Rarity's voice. Twilight gave a puzzled frown in response, having not expected her to be back so soon. Or... maybe her perception of time had been skewed. She sort of got a late start when it came to enjoying her skin, so maybe she just hadn't factored everything correctly.

Whatever the reasoning was, however, it didn't make much difference. Rarity was here now, and wanting to be let in. She'd just have to let her in, and hope for the best.

"Come in, Rarity," she replied back, before moving to manually grip the door knob, and pull it open for her. "I really wasn't expecting you to be back so soon. Did everything go alright?"

"Quite alright, darling. Today's haul was a lot deeper than we were expecting. But the results were well worth the extra effort needed to get to them. We walked away with far more than we anticipated," Rarity explained as she stepped inside. "Despite the reward, however, the work was still quite hard. Poor Spike was in desperate need of a nap by the time we made it back to town. I didn't have the heart to keep him up any longer, so I just left him to sleep at the boutique while I brought these by," she explained as she levitated the basket of gems in front of her.

Twilight couldn't help but whistle at the number of gems she was being presented with. That was more than even Spike could devour in one sitting. Or at least she hoped that was the case.

"I'll be sure that he gets them when he comes home. A little at a time," she replied as she reached out to take the basket. But she stopped just short of actually taking hold of it telekinetically. To do that she'd have to drop her illusion spell and... yeah. Awkward. "Um... just set them down anywhere and I'll get to them..."

Rarity blinked at Twilight's words and gestures. They were far too strange to be anything other than unusual.

"Well if you insist, darling," she replied and eased the basket down onto the floor. Perhaps it was time for a little intelligence gathering. "Are you feeling alright? You seem a bit flustered," she pointed out.

"Oh, I'm alright, really. I just, er..." Twilight paused, trying to think of something to say that wouldn't come off as being alarming. "I just can't use my magic at the moment. Spell practice and all that, you know?"

"Hmm... yes I suppose that makes sense. Practicing too much can certainly be strenuous to engage in," Rarity replied and nodded. Not that she practiced anything near like what Twilight herself did. But she was still familiar with the concept she was talking about. "Just one thing."

"Yes?" Twilight asked.

"Please don't take offense Twilight, but speaking frankly, darling, one unicorn to a... former unicorn... you're lying through your teeth," Rarity stated as she narrowed her eyes at her friend. "I can tell that you're using your magic right now. I can feel it. So I feel inclined to ask just what it is that you're doing..."

Twilight flinched. But she knew that there wasn't much she could do. She could try and lie her way out of it, but she doubted that she could pull it off convincingly. And she really didn't want to lie to her friends; especially not right to their faces. There was really little that she could do, other than fess up to what had been going on.

"Alright," she replied slowly, before shutting the door, and locking the latch. "I admit it. You caught me. I'm currently using an illusion spell, and if I try and split my focus, it's going to cancel out on me."

"An illusion spell? Whatever for?" Rarity asked, intrigued by this mystery. Twilight was neat and orderly, among many other things. But concerned about her appearance was rarely ever one of them.

"Well... it's complicated. It would probably be easier to just show you. Just... just don't freak out, alright?" Twilight asked uneasily as she allowed the spell to cancel out.

Rarity blinked as the spell ceased. And then she blinked again, uncertain of what exactly she was looking at. She _knew_ that it was Twilight standing on front of her, as those gorgeous purple eyes were unmistakable. The same went for the lavender of her horn and hooves. But everything else in between that made Twilight so easily identifiable was completely absent. There wasn't a trace of fur or feathers anywhere on her entire body; utterly nothing than just bare, pale, slightly mottled skin.

The phrase "plucked chicken" immediately came to the forefront of her mind.

"Darling... you're _bald_..." she stated slowly, finding the very notion incredibly hard to believe; bordering on impossible really.

"I know," Twilight replied and nodded.

"But... why? Your fur was there only a few hours ago. How did this happen? No, never mind that, I'm quite sure I know the how of this. This is Discord's work, right? He's up to no good again, just as when he ruined this year's gala," Rarity stated, mentally shuddering at what had happened; especially to herself! She was starting to sense a pattern here.

"Actually..." Twilight began, pronouncing the word hesitantly, "Discord's not behind this at all. He's innocent in all of this, believe it or not..."

"No?" Rarity asked, surprised that the spirit of chaos wasn't responsible for something going wrong for a change. "Then how did this happen? You're not the mangy type of pony, Twilight, you always take good care of yourself. Did... oh dear. Did one of your spells wind up getting out of hoof? One of your experiments run awry and you got caught in the middle of it?" she asked.

Twilight steeled her nerves as she weighed her options on how to reply. She could take the easy way out, and lie about how this happened... or she could admit to what she was doing, and deal with the awkwardness that would ensue. All the while hoping that Rarity would be understanding.

It wasn't the easiest of decisions for her to make. But in the end she knew what she had to do.

"Actually," she repeated, this time without stretching it out, "I made the decision to go like this on my own."

There was an awkward silence that followed Twilight's admission, primarily because Rarity had been caught so off guard by it, she didn't have a clue what to say. At first.

"I'm sorry, darling, could you please repeat that? I don't think I heard you right. It sounded like you actually said you made the decision to go _bald_. But that's just-"

"The truth," Twilight interrupted.

"But... but _why?_ Why would you ever want to go... want to go..." Rarity asked, unable to bring herself to actually finish the question.

"Nude," Twilight added.

Now Rarity blinked at the mention of the word. "Nude?" she asked.

Twilight giggled in response. "It sounds really cute how you pronounce the word," she stated.

"Now you're just being deliberate in trying to distract from the issue," Rarity stated accusingly as she frowned. "Twilight, as your friend, I believe I'm-"

She had been about to say that she felt she was entitled to an explanation as to what was going on around here. But she stopped short of actually saying such, having engaged her mind before her mouth. And she was thankful she had, as the whole thing sounded incredibly egotistical even to her.

"Twilight," she repeated, her tone far softer than before. "You know I'm your friend, darling. Might I impose on you for an explanation as to what exactly is going on?"

All Twilight could do was sigh and nod in response. "I think I can do that. Although I think it's only fair to warn you, it's a fairly long explanation."

"I doubt either of us has anywhere to be going right now," Rarity replied. She certainly doubted that Twilight would be going outside in her current condition.

"Alright," Twilight replied and sat down on her haunches. Immediately she leaped back to her hooves with an excited yip. "Okay, bad idea. Crystal flooring is cold against bare skin," she stated. "Let's move to somewhere a little more comfortable, and textile ready, shall we?"

"I couldn't agree more," Rarity replied. Something like this demanded being comfortable.

Unfortunately comfort wasn't what she was on the receiving end of as Twilight turned to lead them to another portion of the palace. Immediately she let out a squeak of surprise. Without Twilight's fur present, absolutely everything was visible to her.

Being a fashionista, and tasked with making as many outfits as she had over the years, with all of the measurements she had to take for custom fittings, some degree of observing equine anatomy was unavoidable. It had all been completely professional on her part, to the point she'd become desensitized to seeing such in the line of work, be it with either strangers or her closest friends. But there was just something about seeing the same presented as _bare skin_ that seemed so... scandalous, so indecent.

Without bothering to speak up and voice the facts of her sudden discomfort, she instead hastened her pace to walk evenly with her down the hall.

Whatever Twilight had to say, Rarity hoped that it provided some clarity to what was going on here.


	2. Chapter 2

Rarity really wasn't surprised that the library proper was the chosen destination for... whatever it was that was going to happen here. Twilight was most at home amongst her books, even more so in the crystal palace that served as her home. It wasn't a concept that Rarity had any difficulty understanding; it provided her friend with a sense of familiarity, and comfort. For her it was the same with her inspiration room. Yes, it was certainly a haphazard mess, but there was a perfect order about it in her mind, and everything eclectic within had a reason for being.

Her thoughts on the matter came to an end as Twilight came walking back into the room, a tea set in magical tow that was gently set down on the coffee table in front of the sofa.

Rarity still couldn't make heads or tails of what she was seeing... and what she was trying not to see. Her friend had not a trace of fur to her, and she was perfectly alright with that. She carried herself as someone who was perfectly content and secure with herself, despite her state of... indecency. She wasn't moving about like she was on display, like she was deliberately flaunting herself, but like it was just a casual, everyday setting. It was a concept that was positively confusing to her.

She tried hard not to stare at her friend as she went about pouring the tea. But Celestia help her, it was so hard _not_ to stare. The contrast with normality was just so shocking, she couldn't fully look away.

Without her fur and feathers serving to bolster her frame, Twilight looked positively skinny; an unhealthy level of skinny. If it weren't for her ribs not being plainly visible, Rarity would've sworn that her friend was malnourished. She didn't want to be rude, but it was almost like looking at one of her ponequins coming to life, and moving about of its own free will. That was the closest comparison she could make.

The absence of Twilight's cutie mark was also disturbing to take into account. One of her most identifiable features, utterly obliterated, with just a faint tracing of its outline left on her flanks to signify that it ever existed and...

She stopped her thoughts right there. Thinking about Twilight's hairless flanks wasn't what she wanted to be doing right now. It was just too creepy.

"Here," Twilight said as she levitated a cup of tea over to her. She eagerly accepted it, sipping at its contents, and finding them to be soothing. That made things a little bit better.

"Thank you, darling," Rarity replied before taking another sip to help steady her nerves.

"It's the least I can do. I guess this is a bit awkward," Twilight replied sheepishly.

"A bit awkward? Twilight, "a bit awkward" is realizing that you've mistakenly worn synthetic fabrics to a formal gathering. This goes well beyond that point," Rarity stated, trying to alternate her point of focus between the cup of tea, and Twilight's eyes, rather than anything else. She sighed at that point. "I'm sorry if I'm coming off as high strung, Twilight, it's just been such a shock to my system. When I came over here to give you Spike's gems, I never expected to find you walking around completely _bald_ ," she stated.

Twilight nodded in understanding as she levitated one of the cushions off of the couch, and sat herself down on it. "I can see that making sense. Although I prefer the term "nude" myself. Socially it carries essentially the same meaning, but I just like the sound of it much better," she explained, before taking her own cup of tea.

Rarity maintained her silence, contemplating what to say as she slowly sipped her tea. There was the need to balance both politeness, and friendship, against the desire to know what had possessed her friend to act so strangely. At times like this, she really wished that she was more like one of their other friends, who could so freely get away with being brash at the least little provocation.

"Language preferences aside. Why... why... why _any_ of it? Whatever possessed you to do something like this, Twilight? You're aware of the social connotations involved with deliberate baldness, are you not?!"

Well, so much for tact. She hadn't even meant to fly off like that, it had just happened when she opened her mouth to speak.

"I'm sorry, darling, I really am. I didn't mean to come off as being harsh. I just... I just don't understand this; any of it," she explained.

"It's alright, I understand," Twilight replied, unshaken by Rarity's sudden outburst. She paused as she sipped her tea, before speaking up to address her again. "And yes, I'm well aware of how society views those that deliberately choose to go hairless. Promiscuity, moral degenerates, corruptors of all that's good and decent, etc. I used to think the exact same thing. For a time. Now, not so much," she explained.

"Darling, you're making me more curious than I was previously. What exactly changed your outlook on this subject? Whatever motivated you to become a... a..." Rarity paused, trying to find the proper word.

"Nudist," Twilight replied.

"Yes. That," Rarity stated, thankful to have some idea of how Twilight chose to view herself. Calling her a "baldy" to her face wouldn't have been polite under any circumstances. Despite the shock she'd received, she didn't want to present herself as a rude guest.

"Well... I think it all started during my second trip to the human world, when Sunset Shimmer wrote, asking for help in defeating the sirens that Starswirl banished to their realm. Part of it involved staying there overnight," Twilight began, to which Rarity nodded.

"We spent the night in the palace, just in case you came back and needed our help," she explained.

"Anyway, I had plans to occupy the library there, but the others wouldn't hear of it, and we all spent the night at the house of their world's Pinkie. Everything was going fine, until it came time for changing into pajamas. Human clothing is... a lot different from pony clothing. Lots of features that we'd consider unnecessary. It was frustrating. I was willing to simply do without it, until Sunset Shimmer and the others explained the key importance of clothes in their world. It turns out their world's taboo against nudity is even stronger than ours; they actually wear clothing _underneath_ other clothing," she stated.

"You don't say," Rarity replied, amazed at such a revelation.

"I do say. They helped me understand that it serves a specific purpose that warrants it, but still, it's a lot to get used to," Twilight continued.

"Well that's certainly fascinating to hear, Twilight, but how exactly did that lead you to this whole nudist thing in the first place?" Rarity asked, burning with a curiosity that her tea simply couldn't quench.

"Well that sort of came about sometime later in the evening when Sunset Shimmer and I were talking in the kitchen. She told me that she understood the confusion the cultural difference presented. She also told me that she actually goes nude around her apartment when she's by herself, as it reminds her of home, and helps when she's stressed," Twilight explained, before stopping to take another sip of her tea.

Rarity considered Twilight's words, trying to make sense of how what she'd been told had led to what she'd witnessed. She just couldn't fathom how the two were connected. Surely there had to be more to it than just that.

"I take it there's more to this story than just that?" she eventually asked. She knew that Twilight had a penchant for exploring cultural aspects she deemed interesting. But she highly doubted that interest alone would be enough to motivate the alicorn to shave herself bald.

"A lot more, actually. That wasn't my last trip back to the human world. I've made several since then whenever I've had the opportunity, usually just for a few hours at a time. It's a lot easier when there's no crises that need to be addressed," Twilight explained. Rarity nodded in response, easily able to understand that point. "The time after that, I'd been in contact with Sunset Shimmer through the journal here and there. When I wrote her and told her that I planned on coming back over for a few hours, she wrote me back and invited me to come over to her place, saying she'd appreciate being able to catch up with another Equestrian, and find out how much had changed since she left."

"And you did this while... nude?" Rarity asked, even though she had the feeling that she already knew the answer.

"Well not at first. I mean, when I showed up, I expected her to answer the door nude based on what she'd said the last time we were together. But instead she answered it fully dressed. I thought about bringing it up, but at the time I really wasn't sure if it was a good idea, what with their nudity being the equivalent of our baldness. It actually made me kind of uncomfortable to consider," Twilight explained.

"So what changed?" Rarity asked.

"Sunset Shimmer realized how uncomfortable I was and helped talk me through it. She explained a few things that made sense, and I realized that I was basically being afraid of something because I only possessed a little information about it. Then I realized just how silly I was being when I started piecing things together. And after a while we just sort of... went ahead with it," Twilight explained.

"And..." Rarity paused, unsure if she wanted to actually go through with asking. "How was it?"

"Well at first it was... really strange. Human biology is just so foreign. But we managed to settle into a somewhat comfortable setting. We talked, we read some books, we even got acquainted with their world's equivalent of our arcade games. Eventually it stopped being strange and just seemed... kind of normal actually. It was actually fascinating to experience, and do a compare and contrast with what I'm familiar with," Twilight stated, before downing the rest of her tea.

And now the memories of her experience with "Tetris" were coming back to her. Maybe the next time she went through, she could see about bringing one of those laptop computers back through the portal with her.

"I'm sorry, darling, but I'm still having trouble understanding all of this. How exactly did one afternoon serve to convince you that being bald, er, nude with such ready regularity, isn't an activity that's related to promiscuity and such?" Rarity asked, trying to get a proper hold on what was being said. She was certain Twilight had what she thought was a valid reason for believing such, but she simply couldn't see it herself.

"Well it was more than just one afternoon actually. Sunset Shimmer might have gotten the ball rolling, but it was my own research that helped convince me that it wasn't. During one of my visits, I found a message board on the subject-

"Message board? Like a bulletin board?" Rarity asked.

"Not exactly," Twilight began, trying to think of how to explain the concept of the internet to Rarity so she might understand it. The details weren't really relevant, but she would so need to kick herself if she didn't try to be accurate. "You know how the telegraph works, right?" she asked. Rarity nodded. "It's _sort of_ the same principle, but in this case almost everyone has a telegraph in their home, each of them interconnected like a spider's web, so they're all attached to a central hub of information, allowing everyone to communicate back and forth."

"... I'll take your word for it, darling, simply because I don't wish to get anymore distracted from your current tale than I already have," Rarity stated, briefly wondering if Twilight had brought up such a foreign concept in a deliberate effort to distract her from her tale. "You were saying?"

"Oh. Right," Twilight replied and nodded. She'd address the technical issues some other time. "Anyway. I found a meeting place of individuals who are nudists, since they seemed the best to ask. They were _really_ friendly, answering all of the questions that I had on the subject. They were incredibly helpful as I tried to make sense of everything," she explained as she smiled, remembering the outpouring of support that she'd received.

"And what did they say that led you to... joining the herd as it were?" Rarity asked, waving her free hoof in a small circle as she tried to find the right way of phrasing the question.

"Well... nothing really. I got a lot of questions answered about the topic, but none of it really convinced me that being a nudist was something I wanted to do. But then again I didn't set out to be convinced about that. I just wanted information about why others did it. I thought it was about promiscuity as well, but you'd be surprised at some of the answers I got back, about why other did it, and how they got started doing it," Twilight stated.

"And... what sort of reasons did they give you as to what motivated them to forgo clothing in their daily lives?" Rarity finally asked, torn between curiosity and revulsion at this point in time. But Twilight was still her friend, and she owed her friend support. No matter how uncomfortable it made her to do so.

"Mostly it had to do with how freeing and relaxing it was for them to go without the demands of society within the privacy of their own homes. Some were raised with the concept since birth, and didn't know anything else, while others came to it of their own volition. To them it's just... normal. It's what they know, it's what they enjoy doing," Twilight explained.

Rarity sighed as she laid down on the sofa, using her front hooves to massage her temples.

"I'm sure its quite fascinating from a scholastic standpoint, darling, but could you please explain why _you_ came to the conclusion that this was for you? And how you arrived at said conclusion?" she asked, trying to keep her irritation out of her voice. But so far it was proving to be difficult. "I'm far more interested in _your_ motivations, rather than those of others that I'll likely never meet..."

"Oh," Twilight replied as she realized just how far off topic she was getting. "Well after all of the back and forth discussion about things, I eventually got curious. Ponies don't wear clothing, but for us its socially acceptable not to do so, despite how we'd all be considered nude by human standards. But we don't consider our own lack of clothing to be obscene, because we're covered by fur. What we consider to be obscene is a lack of fur covering. For... pretty much obvious reasons," she paused and looked back at one of her own molted wings.

"Among other things," Rarity mumbled, "so realizing that our fur serves the same social purpose as clothing is what motivated you to try this out?"

"Well I wouldn't say it motivated me, but it certainly made me curious, and a while back on one hot day when I had the opportunity I just... tried it out to see what it was like. There's actually a spell that can disintegrate a pony's fur or feathers, and seeing no reason not to at the time, I just went and did it," Twilight explained.

"Just like that?" Rarity asked as she quirked an eyebrow. It all seemed far too simple to her.

"Well not _just_ like that. I made sure there was a counter-spell that could be used before I ever considered doing it. And I made sure there were no responsibilities I had to see to beforehoof. But once I made sure of that... yeah, pretty much," Twilight replied and gave a shrug.

Rarity loosened up a bit. At least Twilight had exercised due caution before attempting this inane idea. That made her feel a little better, to know that her friend hadn't simply rushed off to shed her fur like some sort of degenerate.

"I take it, based on your explanation, this isn't your first time going furless. So obviously you must've found something appealing about it, that warranted continuing it," Rarity reasoned. "I'm hesitant to ask about the details. But as far as I've come, turning back down would just uncalled for. So... what motivated you to keep up this... practice?" she asked, deciding to forge ahead with her inquiry.

"Well at first it was simple curiosity as to what it would be like. It was... kind of strange really. I never saw what I looked like under my coat before, so I wasn't really prepared for what I saw. I almost cast the counter-spell right then," she stated and giggled at the memory. "But being a scientist, I decided to see it through. Looking back I'm glad I did, as I would've missed out on a significant learning opportunity. And once you get past the awkwardness of realizing that you're walking around with nothing on, it really stops being so strange. Once the excitement wears off it just seems normal. You stop feeling like you're getting away with doing something that you shouldn't, and start feeling more comfortable, both with your own state, and your surroundings."

Rarity knew full well that Twilight's use of the word "you" hadn't been to address her directly, but rather to assist her as she went about explaining her reasoning. Nor was she all that surprised by her friend choosing to paint her journey into the concept of baldness -nudity, she reminded herself- as a sort of scientific experiment; considering everything Twilight had gotten herself into in the past, this would hardly be the most unusual of her experiments.

Regardless of that fact, however, there was still a great deal that she didn't understand. And if she wanted to have any understanding of what motivated her friend, she was going to need to dig deeper still.

But first, she needed more tea. Much to her chagrin, however, the pot was empty when she went to freshen her drink.

"... Could I trouble you for another pot of tea, darling?" she asked.

"It's no trouble at all," Twilight replied as she stood back up from her perch.

"Er..." Rarity paused uneasily, "darling, would it be asking too much for you to..."

"You'd like me to reactivate the illusion spell I was using earlier?" Twilight asked, guessing that it was what Rarity was getting at.

"Would you? Please?" Rarity asked. "I don't want to be rude or anything, seeing as I'm your guest. It's just that-"

"It's fine, really. I don't mind," Twilight replied, before casting the desired spell. In a flash she was looking like her normal self once again. "I'll need your help in the kitchen, however. I can't do any magic multitasking while I maintain the illusion," she explained.

Rarity nodded. That was certainly fair as far as she was concerned. If Twilight was going to make her feel comfortable, the least she could do was assist her if it was needed.


End file.
